Flank attack on the Ridge: a Kelhamshire scenario for Pike and Shotte

Circumstances dictated that our latest game was once again played via skype rather than in person.  I selected one of the games from Charles Grant's "Programmed Wargames Scenarios"  'weak flank', for Wednesday evening's game,.  The attackers' (Parliament) are trying to drive the defenders (Royalists) from the ridge to secure the road for the advance of their supply train and heavy guns.  Unwilling to attack the position frontally, they have carried out an overnight flank march to attack the enemy's right flank.  I tinkered with it slightly, introducing a covering force to try and prevent the defenders from moving all their troops to counter the flank attack.

A view of the table at the beginning of the game.  The Royalists are defending the ridge, in the woods on the right are a unit of dragoons.  At the top of the photo can be seen the small force Sir Victor has left to firstly cover his camp and the baggage train and secondly fix the attention of the left wing of the Royalist forces.  Due to arrive on the Royalist right flank are six units of foot, (in two brigades) and four regiments of horse (1 brigade) accompanied by two light guns. 

Sir Roderick Hoghton commander of the Royalist forces had deployed expecting a frontal attack on the ridge.  The infantry and guns were to hold the ground against an enemy attack, while Sir William Molyneux's cavalry brigade were positioned where they could move to flank any such attack. The manoeuvers of Bentham's command, the skeleton force left in the Parliamentary camp by Sir Victor, confirmed Hoghton in his plan and before he could gauge the true extent of Bentham's force, the Parliamentary flank attack was well under way.

Wanless' brigade was first into the attack.  Nowell's regiment advanced straight towards the right hand wood, with Gell's regiment further to the right heading for the ridge.  Malkin's regiment aroused the ire of Sir Victor by seemingly being reluctant to advance.  Even worse, it slowed the advance of Lonsdale's infantry brigade as well.

The Parliamentarian infantry advance

The speed of Nowell's advance was such that the Royalist dragoons had time for only one volley before the enemy infantry were on them.  They were followed back through the wood by Nowell's men, who managed to preserve reasonably good order in spite of the close terrain.  Gell's regiment were equally as swift.  They caught Hoghton's regiment in flank, but remarkably, the Royalist infantry managed to 'bounce' the attack off.  Before the Parliamentary infantry could advance again, Hoghton's regiment had wheeled, fired and forced Gell's to retreat.  This resulted in Malkin's regiment, which had eventually managed to advance, being disordered as Gell's fell back through them.

Nowell's push back the Royalist dragoons

Gell's attack Hoghton's regiment

Hoghton's response to Sir Victor's attack had been to order his two reserve infantry regiments, Clinton's and Strickland's to move to the right to oppose Nowell's and the cavalry to move left to make room for the infantry advance.  This caused some confusion and the situation was not helped by the dragoons also moving to the left.

Seeing the repulse of the first attack on the ridge, Bentham decided to interpret his orders "to occupy the attention of the enemy forces near the road" as meaning he should attack.  His force of two small infantry regiments and a small cavalry regiment advanced  against Smethurst's infantry regiment on the Royalist left.   A combination of musketry volleys and artillery fire inflicted significant casualties on Bentham's regiments, but they still plodded forward.  Bentham had artillery support and fire from this began to whittle away at Smethurst's .  Anxious to support his left flank, Hoghton ordered Molyneux to send a regiment to attack the enemy artillery.  Gillibrand's infantry regiment moved forward allowing Stanley's cavalry regiment to advance through the gap.

Sir Victor's forces ready to advance

Meanwhile on the Royalist right, Nowell's regiment continued to advance.  Clinton's regiment formed up to oppose them, volleys were exchanged and then Nowell's charged.  Strickland's should have been in a position to support Clinton's, but they were still threading their way through Molyneux's brigade of cavalry.  Sir Victor's own cavalry brigade, Livesey's had arrived, but he held them back.  He was waiting for the infantry to push the Royalists back and allow the cavalry to pass between the two woods safely.

The fight for the ridge had resumed with Gell's reinforced by Lonsdale's brigade.  To aid Hoghton's, Sir Roderick ordered a gun and Gillibrand's regiment to move to the right flank.The artillery did move, but the ground slowed their advance; the order for Gillibrand's regiment seemed to go astray as they remained exactly where they were.  By the time a second order reached them it was too late.  Lonsdale had deployed Mytton's regiment to the right of Gell's, with the regiments of Leck and Ireby in a second line.  Hoghton's did what they could; but outnumbered 2:1 the Parliamentary volleys exacted a heavy toll. Losses in Hoghton's mounted and seeing a wavering in the Royalist ranks, Wanless ordered Gell's to charge.   Hoghton's fired a feeble volley and a token resistance before taking to their heels.  In the confusion of the rout, the gunners , who had eventually reached the summit of the ridge, also ran, abandoning their gun.  With Nowell's regiment routing Clinton's regiment after a prolonged tussle, Sir Victor was on the brink of success.

Bentham's attack on the ridge

The only positive news for Sir Roderick came from the right flank.  Bentham's first attack had been repulsed.  Not only that, Smethurst's had followed up their success and also pushed back the second infantry regiment.  Molyneux had taken personal command of the attack by Stanley's horse regiment.  They had quickly overrun the Parliamentary artillery and were now placed to complete the destruction of Bentham's force.  Facing disaster, Bentham ordered his horse regiment, Bannister's, to charge Stanley's.  Although outnumbered they inflicted heavy damage on the Royalists, but it was at a fearful cost.  Stanley's, reeling from their losses, struggled back to their lines to reform.  Bannister's, seeing their own infantry running back to the camp, decided that the day was lost and joined the rout.  Smethurst would have loved to carry on his advance and loot the Parliamentary camp, but a personal visit from Sir Roderick convinced him that his presence was needed to bolster the centre of the Royalist position.

Hoghton's rout

The success of Nowell and Gell had cleared the way for Livesey's brigade to advance.  As the leading regiment, Shuttleworth's, cleared the gap between the woods and formed up, they were faced by Tyldsley's regiment.  In a brief struggle, Shuttleworth's prevailed, driving back their opponents and charging the supporting regiment, Molyneux's.  This was a more even affair, with significant losses on both sides.  Both units fell back to reform.  Livesey pushed forward his own regiment and the remaining two from his brigade.  Molyneux had only Loughton's regiment to oppose them, his other three regiments needing time to reform.  Hoghton assessed his position.  Outnumbered and outmanoeuvred, his only chance was to use Loughton's horse and  Strickland to buy time while the remainder of his force retreated.

Nowell's, the heroes of the day, who led the attack.  Here they rout Clinton's regiment

A notable victory for Sir Victor, marred only by the heavy losses sustained by Bentham in his attack on the ridge.  However, Bentham argued that he did pull one of the Royalist cavalry regiments away from the decisive action in the centre.